Pelvic health for men and women is a medical area of increasing importance, at least in part due to an aging population. Examples of common pelvic ailments include incontinence (fecal and urinary), pelvic tissue prolapse (e.g., female vaginal prolapse), and conditions of the pelvic floor.
Urinary incontinence can further be classified as including different types, such as stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urge urinary incontinence, mixed urinary incontinence, among others. Other pelvic floor disorders include cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, and prolapse such as anal, uterine and vaginal vault prolapse. A cystocele is a hernia of the bladder, usually into the vagina and introitus. Pelvic disorders such as these can result from weakness or damage to normal pelvic support systems.
In its severest forms, vaginal vault prolapse can result in the distension of the vaginal apex outside of the vagina. An enterocele is a vaginal hernia in which the peritoneal sac containing a portion of the small bowel extends into the rectovaginal space. Vaginal vault prolapse and enterocele represent challenging forms of pelvic disorders for surgeons. These procedures often involve lengthy surgical procedure times.
Urinary incontinence can be characterized by the loss or diminution in the ability to maintain the urethral sphincter closed as the bladder fills with urine. Male or female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) occurs when the patient is physically stressed.
A specific area of pelvic health is trauma of the pelvic floor, e.g., of the levator (“levator ani”) or coccygeus muscle (collectively the pelvic floor). The pelvic floor is made up of the levator and coccygeus muscles, and the levator is made up of components that include the puborectalis muscle, the pubococcygeus muscle, and the iliococcygeous muscle. For various reasons, the levator may suffer weakness or injury such as damage to the levator hiatus, ballooning or levator avulsion, any of which that can result in symptoms such as prolapse, fecal incontinence, and other conditions of the pelvis.
Levator defects (weakness or injury) can affect any portion of the levator, and can be especially common in the pubic portion of the levator ani, including the pubococcygeus and puborectalis muscles. Such defects are relatively common, for instance, in women with vaginal prolapse. Defects can also be present at the iliococcygeus muscle. Still other defects are in the form of a paravaginal defect, such as avulsion of the inferiomedial aspects of the levator ani from the pelvic sidewall; avulsion can refer to tissue being detached from the pubic bone, and may precede prolapse conditions. Another levator defect is levator ballooning, which refers to distension of levator muscles.
A different levator defect is a defect of the levator hiatus, which can reduce the stability of the pelvic floor and may result in sexual dysfunction, defecatory dysfunction, rectal prolapse, and fecal incontinence. Levator hiatus is also believed to play a significant role in the progression of prolapse. Embodiments of methods of the invention can address any of the conditions, as well as related conditions and symptoms.